Pot and glaucoma

State Sen. Jones wants to end medical marijuana use for the eye disease

WEDNESDAY, March 7— A recently proposed bill would take
glaucoma, which is nestled right between cancer and HIV, off the list of Michigan
medical marijuana-approved diseases because, as Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge,
put it, “marijuana doesn’t work.”

Jones said he supports the use of
medical marijuana for those suffering from chronic pain or undergoing cancer
treatments but was recently approached by doctors who wanted him to axe
glaucoma from the list.

“The doctors of ophthalmology
came to me with their association and asked that I rush in a bill to take it
off,” Jones said. “They’re actually seeing cases of people going blind who are self-medicating
with marijuana.”

Glaucoma is an eye disease that
increases pressure in the eye, damaging the optic nerve and causing loss of
vision, which can eventually lead to blindness if untreated. Marijuana has been
shown in some studies to relieve this eye pressure for several hours.

People are not going blind from
smoking pot, Jones clarified, but some people are not using their prescribed
eye drops and are solely relying on marijuana to address their condition.

“Ridiculous” was the word used by
Morgan Fox, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project to
describe the legislation.

The Marijuana Policy Project is a
donation-funded, national organization pushing for the removal of criminal
penalties from marijuana and advocating for medical usage of the plant.

Senators should not make
decisions about treatment options, he said, adding that it’s a discussion
thatbelongs between patients and their
doctors.

Fox said there was a “proven
positive effect” from marijuana when used to treat glaucoma.

“Chronic pain can be subjective,”
he said, adding, “there is nothing subjective about glaucoma.”

There are FDA-approved, more
effective, prescription treatments that have been shown to stop glaucoma, said
Greg Chancey, executive director for the Michigan Society of Eye Physicians and
Surgeons.

Patients who only use medical
marijuana are coming back to doctor appointments with vision equal to “looking
through a drinking straw ... or worse, they blink-blink into blindness,”
Chancey said.

The organization released a
statement expressing their concern about smoking glaucoma away.

“Michigan law has inappropriately included glaucoma as a condition that
will benefit from Medical Marijuana. In fact, a large problem is that many
patients forgo the use of approved prescription medications ... and exclusively
use medical marijuana which increases their risk of continued visual loss and
blindness,” the statement said.

The statement indicated that the
American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Glaucoma Society, the American
Medical Association, the National Eye Institute and the Michigan State Medical
Society do not support the use of marijuana to treat glaucoma.

“That’s crazy,” said Tim
Beck, political director of the Oak Park-based Michigan Association of
Compassion Centers, a group dedicated to defending Michigan’s medical marijuana
law.“Used in combination it’s proven
very, very effective.

“Anyone silly enough not to use their eye drops, well, maybe
there’s something else wrong with them besides glaucoma.”

Beck called the Jones’ bill “a real long shot.”

“The concept of taking away any option for treating glaucoma is
not something people in the community support,” he said.

Chancey, along with other doctors will testify March 20 before the
Judiciary Committee regarding SB977, Jones’ bill. Jones chairs the committee.